Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Taipei: Japan overcame a determined Tajikistan to register a 4-2 win in their opening Group B encounter at the AFC Futsal Championships 2018 on Thursday.
The Samurai Blue couldn’t have asked for a better start when they opened the scoring after just five seconds, thanks to a thunderous strike from Kazuya Shimizu on the right hand touch line.
Despite the early setback, Tajikistan regrouped and drew level five minutes later when Fayzali Sardorov pounced on a sloppy turnover by Kaoru Morioka and slid the ball past Higor Pires in the Japanese goal.
Japan showed their fighting spirit by hitting back almost straight away, going ahead again in the ninth minute when Kazuhiro Nibuya fired home from the right hand side.
Two minutes later and Japan’s lead was extended to 3-1 with arguably the goal of the game, with Japan’s incisive one-touch passing from their own half producing the perfect counter attack, with Tomoki Yoshikawa putting the ball on a platter for Shota Hoshi.